Gastrointestinal Infections News

According to research published in The Journal of Pediatrics, during a recent 17-year period, 4% of infants with necrotizing enterocolitis, or NEC, or spontaneous intestinal perforation, or SIP, in one NICU had intestinal infection with cytomegalovirus.

Researchers reported findings from a norovirus outbreak in a pediatric ward with multiple-bed rooms and emphasized the importance of early detection and prompt implementation of strict infection control measures.

The introduction and success of direct-acting antivirals drove the Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes work group to make major updates to its clinical practice guidelines regarding hepatitis C virus infection in chronic kidney disease, or CKD.

Infectious diseases had been a big part of my training in medical school in India, where I cared for and learned from patients with a wide variety of infections from extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis to cerebral malaria to Japanese encephalitis to all types of vaccine-preventable diseases because of lack of health care access. I became fascinated by the specialty, and my interest was further bolstered by role models in residency. A fellowship in a strong inner-city clinical program under awesome mentors with a plethora of pathology was invaluable for the years to come. My first job out of training was in a rural community hospital and Federally Qualified Health Center as the first ID physician in the center. It’s been a rewarding experience to start and run a very busy rural ID practice, taking care of uninsured and underinsured patients in an area with a shortage of health professionals. Sharing strong bonds with patients living with HIV over last 7 years in a small rural community has been a learning experience about their challenges and successes. Absorbing the business side of medicine as a medical director has been equally eye opening. My role as a hospital epidemiologist and stewardship lead has allowed me to build cherished relationships with several medical specialties and hospital staff. I have to admit that I have also learned from patients and communities who may not always agree with me (with respect to management of Lyme disease and vaccine refusal). Keeping the dialogue open is the key.

Experts are developing and testing numerous vaccine candidates against norovirus, which causes hundreds of millions of infections each year worldwide and is seen as a top target for vaccine research. Infectious Disease News asked Xavier Sáez-Llorens, MD, principal investigator for Cevaxin, a vaccines and clinical research center in Panama, which norovirus vaccine or vaccine approach holds the most promise.

Norovirus has become the leading cause of medically attended acute gastroenteritis in countries with national rotavirus vaccination programs, including the United States, and is a common cause of outbreaks worldwide. There is still no licensed vaccine against norovirus, but there are promising candidates in the pipeline, experts said, and researchers are working to define which genotypes and populations to target.

In the summer of 2016, an outbreak of anthrax in the Russian Arctic that left dozens of people hospitalized and one 12-year-old boy dead was blamed on the thawing carcass of a reindeer that had died in the area’s previous anthrax outbreak in 1941.

Results from an estimation model revealed that Australia will marginally miss both its local targets and the WHO’s global targets for eliminating chronic hepatitis B.

By 2019, hepatitis C-seronegative patients who underwent kidney transplantation mostly received HCV-viremic donor organs, which demonstrated the same level of function as uninfected kidneys over the course of 1-year follow-up.

National infection prevention experts, led by the CDC’s Health Research & Educational Trust, have developed a new curriculum focused on infection control.